The Israeli public was battening down the hatches on Wednesday evening in preparation for Storm Byron to intensify after hitting Israel overnight, bringing the threat of flooding and high winds along with it.
As rain and wind picked up, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir issued new safety guidelines and restrictions to the entire military.
Per the guidelines, soldiers would not be permitted to leave their bases and head home for weekend furlough from 8 p.m. on Wednesday until at least 6 a.m. on Friday.
All outdoor training activities were to be prohibited, both on foot or in vehicles, the IDF said, although exceptions may be permitted by a major general. Navigation and camouflage training, or similar drills, would be strictly prohibited, according to the directives.
Staying outside overnight would be prohibited unless required for “operational needs,” and in that case, the move must be approved by the regional division commander.
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Routine security activities were to be limited to “essential activities,” while other operational movement, on foot or in vehicles, would also be limited to “essential travel only.” Logistical movements must be approved by a colonel or a corps commander.
A thunderstorm is seen over a tent camp for displaced Palestinians in Zawaida, central Gaza Strip, December 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
The guidelines would remain in effect until Friday at 6 a.m., and were subject to change in light of ongoing assessments, the IDF added.
Storm Byron hit Israel overnight after battering Greece and Cyprus, and gradually intensified throughout Wednesday, and was expected to peak Wednesday night and Thursday, with residents of the entire country warned to prepare for difficult weather conditions.
Earlier on Wednesday, after a fresh assessment, the IDF had announced that soldiers serving in remote bases in the south would be released for their weekend furlough early, leaving on Wednesday instead of Thursday or Friday, “to ensure their safe return home.”
Flooding was expected in many areas of the south, where the IDF maintains several large training bases.
The Israel Meteorological Service issued a “red warning” for “significant precipitation” along the central and southern coastline and in the Shfela region, which was to be in effect for 24 hours, starting Wednesday at 10 p.m. It said an estimated 100 to 150 mm of rainfall was expected in the affected areas.
The rain throughout Wednesday was mostly concentrated in the north of Israel, with 90 mm of rainfall recorded in Kibbutz Ein Carmel, 88 mm in Zichron Yaakov, and 77 mm in Haifa.
In the Tel Aviv area, about 55 mm of rainfall had been recorded by Wednesday evening.
Around the country, drainage infrastructure was expected to struggle to cope with the amounts of precipitation in the coming hours and days, and Israel’s Health Ministry said it had warned hospitals and clinics to make preparations.
Authorities across the border in the Gaza Strip were also scrambling to prepare for the stormy weather, which was expected to wreak havoc on the war-torn enclave and thrust its population, most of whom are displaced and living in tents, temporary structures, or partially destroyed buildings, into even more dire conditions.
Palestinians ride in a cart pulled by a vehicle through a flooded street after stormy weather in Gaza City, December 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)
The Strip’s Hamas-run civil defense agency warned Gazans on Wednesday of flash floods and tents being blown away, particularly in the coastal Mawasi area near Khan Younis in the Strip’s south.
It called on displaced people to dig drainage ditches near their tents to mitigate the possibility of flooding.
Agency spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told the Qatari Alaraby TV network that the civil defense agency had fielded about 1,000 weather-related calls across the Strip since dawn, and that thousands of tents had already been flooded.
He called for the entry of mobile housing into the Strip to replace the tents.
In Gaza City, Mayor Yahya al-Sarraj told Al Jazeera that rising water levels have led to road closures and the flooding of displaced persons shelters.
The Hamas-affiliated Quds News Network showed a displaced persons encampment filled with muddy water.
“رح نموت إذا ما لحقتونا، صرنا ما نحب الشتاء، عشان خايفين نغرق”..
رسائل نازحين بعد غرق الخيام؛ جراء هطول أمطار غزيرة، على مخيم في حي الزيتون بمدينة غزة. pic.twitter.com/Ur8WGTdA2V
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) December 10, 2025
The people living there, including children, could be seen digging channels around the tents and trying to drain away the water with buckets and dishpans.
“We’ll die within three days” if the condition doesn’t change, an unnamed man told the outlet.
Contact made with missing yacht
Also on Wednesday evening, Israel’s Foreign Ministry said contact had been restored with a yacht that had been missing since Tuesday near Cyprus en route to Crete, in Greece, amid the stormy weather.
In a statement, the ministry said that the four Israelis on board had made contact with Cypriot authorities after a major regional search effort was launched.
The yacht had set off from Ashdod on December 2, but contact was lost on December 8, when its last recorded location was about 89 nautical miles (165 kilometers) from the southwestern coastal town of Paphos.
A search operation was launched on Tuesday, with both Greece and Cyprus diverting vessels to aid in efforts to locate the yacht.
The Foreign Ministry confirmed that after making contact with Cypriot authorities, the yacht was now “making its way back to Israel.”
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